CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – At least 15 people were murdered over the weekend in separate incidents in Ciudad Juarez, located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, Mexican officials said.

The wave of killings, which was blamed on organized crime groups, started Friday night when a man was gunned down by unidentified individuals.

Two other men were killed the same night in a separate shooting in the border city, which is in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Six men were killed in different attacks on Saturday, while a seventh man died when individuals dressed as army soldiers tried to capture him after he allegedly robbed a service station.

Five more people were gunned down in separate incidents on Sunday, officials said.

In 2008, Juarez earned the dubious distinction of being Mexico’s most violent city, living through days when dozens of people were murdered in the span of a few hours, and armed groups committed acts of violence in public areas that terrorized residents.

The border city, home to the Juarez drug cartel, ended 2008 with a total of 1,605 people murdered, according to press tallies, including 77 federal, state and municipal police officers.

Despite the stationing here of more than 10,000 troops and federal police, the border metropolis remains Mexico’s deadliest city, with more than 1,000 homicides so far this year.

In July alone, nearly 200 murders have occurred in Juarez, unofficial reports say.

Mexico has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence, with powerful cartels battling each other and the security forces, as rival gangs vie for control of lucrative smuggling and distribution routes.

Armed groups linked to Mexico’s drug cartels murdered around 1,500 people in 2006 and 2,700 people in 2007, with the 2008 death toll soaring to more than 6,000.

More than 3,600 people have died so far this year.

Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 soldiers and 20,000 federal police officers across Mexico in a bid to stem the wave of violence unleashed by the drug cartels. EFE